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PNS Daily Newscast - November 19, 2018.

More than 1,200 missing in the California wildfires. Also on the Monday rundown: A pair of reports on gun violence in the nation; and concerns that proposed changes to 'Green Card' rules favor the wealthy.

MT Bicycle Safety Tip: Helmets Every Time

PHOTO: Bicycle helmets. Photo Credit: Deborah Smith

June 7, 2012

HELENA, Mont. - Wear a helmet every time. No exceptions.

That's the message from the American Academy of Pediatrics this summer. The group confirms that riding without a bike helmet significantly increases the risk of head injuries if a bicyclist crashes, and crashes can be serious even when just riding around the neighborhood.

Emergency room doctor Mike Gittleman says wearing a helmet can reduce head-injury chances by 85 percent - injuries that can run the gamut.

"Sometimes you just see some abrasions, but they can also be more serious, where you can have skull fractures, you can have intracranial bleeding, and it can even cause death."

Just as you get your bicycle checked on a yearly basis, he says, it's important to make sure your helmet still fits correctly, which is particularly important with children as they grow. He notes there is also an economic rationale for bike-helmet use.

"The usage alone will not only save lives and injury, but it also saves health-care dollars. The expense on these injuries is great, and if we can prevent them on the forefront, it would be saving health-care dollars as well."

With the exception of vehicles, Gittleman says, bikes are linked to more childhood injuries than any other consumer product - including trampolines, ladders and swimming pools.

More than 600 people on bicycles were killed in collisions with motor vehicles across the nation in 2010, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and at least 70 percent were not wearing helmets.

Twenty-one states have bicycle helmet laws. Montana isn't one of them.